Dream pair: Griner happy in Atlanta; eyes Games

Brittney Griner says she feels re-energized by her fresh start with the Atlanta Dream after 11 seasons with the Phoenix Mercury and has set a goal of playing at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.

"It's a goal of mine," Griner told ESPN in an extended interview this week as she prepares for her debut with the Dream on Friday night against the Washington Mystics. "It hasn't been in the U.S. for a while now, so I think to be able to play at the Olympics in your home country would be amazing. My parents have never been to the Olympics. So I'm going to strive for it and try to do what I need to do so I can get that call up or at least be at the camp and help out the ones that will go, whatever it's going to be."

Griner, 34, played sparingly for Team USA as it won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics. But the three-time gold medalist says her offseason move to the Dream after 11 seasons with the Mercury has her feeling stronger mentally and physically than she has in years.

"You get comfortable and sometimes you don't want to get out of that bubble," Griner said. "But it's like the one thing that you definitely need. Sometimes life will push you out of that bubble sometimes, and I'm just glad that I finally did it. I'm glad I did it and came here."

Griner told ESPN that she wasn't looking to leave the Mercury after last season, and expected that she'd have the same opportunity to retire as a member of the team that drafted her No. 1 overall in 2013 as her longtime teammate, Diana Taurasi had.

But things changed when the Mercury informed her before free agency that they were likely going in a different direction. Phoenix ended up revamping its roster by trading for forwards Satou Sabally and Alyssa Thomas.

"I was doing everything as if I was going to still have that jersey on," Griner said. "Then there was a meeting right before I left to go to Unrivaled and I found out like, 'Oh, it looks like they want to do something different. This is news to me.' I wish I would've known way sooner, but hey, life happens."

Griner drove home from her meeting with the Mercury on her motorcycle and tried to digest the news. She pulled over to call her longtime agent, Lindsey Kagawa and her wife, Cherelle Griner.

They'd been looking for a new house in Phoenix all summer but nothing felt right. Perhaps that was a sign.

"Basically was told that I don't know what your future holds," Griner said, when asked if she was given the option to return to Phoenix. "After I heard that, it became my decision. Because I want to be somewhere where they know they want me, where they believe in me and my game."

The Atlanta Dream were her first choice. She loved the players on the team and felt she'd fit in well with All-Stars Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard.

After digesting the initial shock and disappointment that her time in Phoenix was over, Griner found herself getting more excited about the future. She'd been comfortable in Phoenix. And she'd forever be grateful to the organization for its help in securing her release from a Russian prison, where she was detained for 10 months in 2022.

But even before the Mercury told her they were going in a different direction, she'd started wondering if she might've grown too comfortable. After the Mercury lost their playoff game to the Minnesota Lynx, a reporter asked Griner if she was contemplating retirement, as well.

"I'm like, 'Dang, I'm not the one retiring. [Taurasi's] the one retiring,'" Griner said. "We are not the same age. We didn't come into the league together."

So far in Atlanta, Griner has looked as dominant as ever. She finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and a block in her first preseason game. But she also looked different -- shooting 3-pointers and getting out on the break in transition.

The Dream are playing new coach Karl Smesko's five-out system, something that Griner has never done before, but says she's embracing.

"It's definitely different," Griner said. "I mean, we're playing five-out. I'm learning how to move better out on the perimeter, where my spots are on the perimeter, instead of just being down low. Me and Brionna [Jones] are complimenting each other really well. I thoroughly enjoy playing with Bri. A lot of people thought two bigs are not going to work. But they're going to have to figure out how to guard us, and it is actually working really good."

Griner said Smesko suggested an adjustment to her shot, the first day they started working together, and she's grown much more comfortable and consistent with it."

She's also getting out on the break more often.

"I don't look fast, but I move. It takes me way less steps than everybody else," she joked. "I don't have to be out there pumping, going crazy."

One thing she will not do is hang on too long, however.

"As long as I can put up numbers and I can help my team out," Griner said. "I want to play. When I can't do that, or we have to hide me in the corner or put me on the easiest matchup, I will walk away. I don't want to be a liability on the court and there's too many good players coming along too, I'm not going to sit there and just hold onto a spot because I just can't let go."

It's all new and different from anything in her life and WNBA career before. Griner and Cherelle, became parents to a son, Bash, last summer and are adjusting to life with a newborn.

But there are still constant reminders of the 10 months she spent in a Russian prison.

"I learned that I'm definitely adaptable," she said. "Honestly, I can make myself fit whatever I need to do to be okay."

As she talked, she looked down at her right hand. The other day, when she was feeling down, she'd drawn four dots on her hand.

"My cellmate taught me that a lot of the people that have been in isolation in the prisons, that's a tattoo that they normally get," Griner said. "It's just kind of like a reminder. You made it through. You literally sat by yourself in a prison with no one, so you're good. So if I'm having a hard day, I'll put it on there and I'll look down and see it and be like, I made it through that. I'm good.

"What I'm feeling right now, this s--- ain't nothing."